By Grant Spellmeyer, ACA Connects President & CEO
To all our Members of ACA Connects: America’s Communications Association,
As we hit the halfway mark of the year, it’s a good time to underscore how ACA Connects is advocating on your behalf and delivering results! From a new administration, changes to the BEAD Program, the reversal of Title II regulations (again!), and more in an evolving regulatory landscape, we haven’t missed a beat to make sure the voice of independent operators is heard.
Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of ongoing advocacy initiatives and policy wins we’ve secured so far this year. With more to come!
As always, reach out to us if ACA Connects can be of further assistance to you and the communities you serve.
Thank you for being a valued member of our association,
Advocating for YOU
The Summit:
This year’s Summit was very well attended, and we had a record number of Members who participated in meetings on Capitol Hill with more than 90 representatives and senators. Cablefax put it best about Summit 2025, “Many are still trying to find their feet with how fast the new administration has been moving, but ACA Connects and its members were steadfast in their advocacy as they took to the nation’s capital for this year’s Summit.”
Want to be part of the action next year? Be sure to save the date for Summit 2026, March 3-5, in Washington, D.C.
ACA Connects a Key Witness in Influential Committee Hearing:
When the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on rural broadband on March 5, they called upon ACA Connects to share how America’s rural and independent broadband providers are leading to reach unserved locations in their communities. In the hearing, I urged the panel of influential lawmakers to strip costly and extraneous requirements from the BEAD Program and lift permitting burdens slowing the deployment of broadband.
Helping our Members and States Navigate New Bead Guidance:
The updated BEAD guidance released in June presented opportunities and challenges for ACA Connects Members that plan to participate in BEAD. The administration heeded our warnings and lifted the costly mandates bogging down the program and freezing out small providers. In coordination with other associations, we are also leading an aggressive effort to ensure State Broadband Offices and our Members have resources to navigate changes, and to ensure that experienced smaller providers deploying robust and scalable networks have a fair opportunity to participate. The topics we have addressed include how to implement the criteria for “priority broadband projects,” how to address the capabilities of Unlicensed Fixed Wireless Projects, and how to apply limits on “excessive” per-location costs. Please visit this page in our Members Lounge🔒 to access important memos and data we’ve been using to assist states.
Stopping Rate Regulations:
We are making the strongest case possible against state-level rate regulation. We have teamed up with Cartesian, a business consulting firm with deep expertise advising communications providers, to provide a first-of-its-kind analysis that shows exactly how rate regulations harm investment and competition in broadband networks. We hosted a special webinar highlighting this study, which we submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). And we held a follow-up briefing with legislators in the California State Assembly, where a bill mandating a $15 rate cap is under consideration.
Visit acaconnects.org/rateregulation and stay tuned for more news to come about this advocacy effort.
Lifting the Permitting Burden:
We’re engaged on several fronts to advocate for solutions to speed up permitting processes and lower costs. This was a key part of my testimony during the Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on rural broadband. Our team is also engaging in conversations with Congress and the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, which oversees rules to foster competition and broadband deployment. We’re encouraging them to adopt reforms such as fee limits and shot clocks.
Delete, Delete, Delete:
We are participating in many opportunities to weigh in to the FCC, including through Chairman Brendan Carr’s initiative to delete unnecessary regulatory burdens. In these comments, ACA Connects asked the FCC to officially remove the burdensome and unworkable professional engineer certification requirement for the Broadband Data Collection (BDC), give providers more flexibility to implement broadband label requirements, overhaul the digital discrimination rules, and scrap the confusing All-In Pricing rules. Visit acaconnects.org/filings to read all our comments to the FCC and other government agencies.
Evaluating and Influencing Spectrum Policy:
In the FCC’s Upper C-Band NOI, which explores potential reallocation of the 3.98–4.2 GHz band for more intensive use, we filed multiple comments urging the Commission to protect critical video delivery systems relied on by smaller providers. We stressed that rural members still depend on this spectrum and face significant cost and reliability barriers to using alternatives like fiber or higher-frequency satellite bands. In addition, insights from our Spectrum Inventory & Needs Survey will help guide future advocacy to preserve affordable, flexible access to spectrum for our Members, including Wi-Fi spectrum to meet growing demands.
Promoting Competition in FTC Rulemaking:
We are also leading advocacy efforts to reverse Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules and regulatory threats harming our Members, including the Click-to-Cancel rule and rules banning non-compete agreements. We submitted comments at the end of May urging the FTC to repeal these overly broad rules that disproportionately make it harder for smaller providers to compete in the marketplace.
2025 Regulatory Victories (with more to come!)
We helped stop the Title II regulations threatening internet freedom.
On January 2nd, the Sixth Circuit overturned the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules. This was a result of our litigation with other telecommunications associations. Together, we won on the merits of the case that broadband in America has thrived under a light-touch regulatory framework.
FCC Chairman Carr canceled the proposed ban on bulk billing.
In 2024, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a proposal to ban these arrangements. ACA Connects and its Members led the charge on a strong advocacy and educational campaign to inform the FCC, Congress, and the American people that bulk billing arrangements mean more affordable and better-quality services for customers. Chairman Carr deleted the proposal as one of his first acts at the helm of the FCC. Because of our efforts, we were able to ensure our Members can continue to use bulk billing.
The FCC provided a permanent fix to the burdensome and impractical professional engineering certification requirement.
In our “Delete, Delete, Delete” comments and other filings to the FCC, ACA Connects repeatedly urged the Commission to officially remove this certification requirement for the biannual Broadband Data Collection filings. On June 26, the FCC voted to streamline this process. This unworkable requirement will no longer threaten your ability to use your qualified engineers in order to submit accurate broadband deployment data.
As I said, this is just the beginning of a successful year. None of it is possible without the support and participation from Members like you, who are at the forefront of deploying infrastructure, closing the digital divide, and creating more economic opportunities in rural America. Ensuring your success is at the heart of everything we do.
Don’t forget that our next big event is right around the corner. We hope to see you at The Independent Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, August 10-13.
About the Author
Grant Spellmeyer serves as President and CEO of ACA Connects. Grant oversees the daily operations and affairs of ACA Connects-America’s Communications Association.